


No Nightmares Will Plague You Tonight

by Gravytrain101



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Caring Henry, Gen, Sleep Deprived Hawkeye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 08:46:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17557136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gravytrain101/pseuds/Gravytrain101
Summary: Hawkeye has been up for days and is waiting for more wounded when there won't be any for the next couple of hours. Frank, Hot Lips, Trapper, Radar, and Henry are trying to get him to lay down for a bit or at least try to get him to talk about what his nightmares are about. Hawkeye opens up about it and Henry comforts him.Sounds bad but I hope you will like it. I kept thinking about it and just had to write it down and I thought I'd let you guys decide if it's good or not.





	No Nightmares Will Plague You Tonight

Henry’s POV:   
“Pierce,” I asked the dazed man on the stool, “What are you doing in here?” 

He brought his head up and looked in my general direction before saying, “Waiting for more wounded.” 

“There aren't any more wounded Hawk,” Trapper said softly, “We got done 3 hours ago.” 

“Why don’t you come lay down?” Houlihan asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“No,” he snapped as he shifted away from her touch, “I want to stay in here.” 

“Why?” she asked as he played with his dog tags. 

“Why what?” he asked. 

“Why do you want to stay in here?” she asked as she took the dog tags out of his hands and let them hang from his neck like they’re supposed to. 

“Because Hot Lips, I’m useful here. In here I know what I’m doing and I can make a difference in here.” He answered. 

“Why do you think this is the only place you can make a difference?” Frank asked. 

“Because,” he yelled, “I couldn’t make a difference at home! I couldn’t help my own mother!” 

The room was silent after that answer. His mother? He’s never mentioned his mother to me and there was nothing in his file. 

I grabbed a stool and sat next to him, “What happened to your mother? Did she get sick?” I asked. 

All I got was a small nod and I looked at everyone else. They all had shocked looks on their faces, this is as much of a shock to them as it was to me. 

“What was it? What did she have?” I asked. 

“I don’t want to tell you,” he said. 

“Well, is this what your nightmares are about?” Frank asked. 

“Yeah,” he answered. 

“Then it would help to talk about it,” Frank replied. 

“Fine! If you must know, my mother was schizophrenic! She would always yell and sometimes she thought I was trying to kill her! She thought her 6-year-old son was trying to kill her! It didn’t last long though because she died when I was 23. There Frank! Now are you happy that you know why an idiot like me can’t sleep? Now, please leave!” he yelled. 

“Benjamin Pierce!” I yelled as he immediately covered his ears, “My office, now!” 

Radar gently grabbed Pierce’s arm, softly saying, “Come on sir.” Before following me to my office. 

I walked in and stood behind my desk, waiting for Radar to come in and drop Pierce off. 

“Captain Pierce, sir,” Radar said before leaving and making sure the doors were shut. 

After a few seconds of silence, I asked, “Why are you standing so close to the door?” 

“Because,” Pierce replied, “I want to leave as soon as I can in case you start yelling again.” 

At this point I didn’t even see the young, quick-witted, talented surgeon in front of me. I saw a little boy, not even 10-years-old at least standing before me in oversized scrubs that looked like he was two seconds away from sobbing into his sleeve. 

“Pierce,” I sighed as I went around my desk and sat down on my cot and motioned for him to sit next to me, “Come here for a minute.” 

“You won’t yell anymore?” he asked in the smallest voice I’ve ever heard from him. 

Damn. All I see is that little boy, I don’t even see the sleep deprived man in front of me anymore. 

“I will not yell anymore.” I said before repeating myself, “Come here for a minute.” 

I waited until he came and sat next to me. 

“Now,” I started as I put my arm around him, “When my girls would have nightmares I would sit up and talk to them until they went back to sleep.”

“I don’t want to go back to sleep,” he told me. 

“You’ve been up for days Pierce. You have to sleep.” I said as I started to run my fingers through his hair, like I did with my daughters and wife once in a while. 

“I don’t want to have another nightmare,” he confessed. 

“No one wants to have a nightmare son. Tell you what, why don’t you sleep here tonight and I will wake you up right away if I see any sign of a nightmare?” I asked.

“I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP!” he yelled as he tried to get up. 

“You don’t have to Pierce, it’s okay.” I said as I held him close and put his head on my shoulder, “I’m sorry. Why don’t we just talk for a while? Huh?” 

Once I felt him nod I asked, “Remember when you guys helped make that movie? And Radar was up there with you and Trapper flexing his muscles?” 

“Yeah,” he laughed, “That guy tried to get me to actually act.”

“I remember,” I responded before running my fingers through his hair again since I felt him relax a little. 

“Or what about when Frank pulled some pranks on you and Trapper and you got back at him?” I asked.

“Mmm,” he mumbled. 

“Yeah, you ended up tearing down the latrine when Frank was in it!” I said before reminding him of other fun times. 

I told another story or two before asking, “Remember that?” and I smiled when all I got were soft snores as an answer. 

I sneaked a peak at Pierce to make sure he was out, and sure enough he was. So, I cupped his head and held his back as I gently lowered him onto my cot. I brought his legs up onto it and took his boots off so his can be a bit more comfortable. 

I grabbed the blanket that somehow ended up on the floor before draping it over Hawkeye. 

I ran my fingers through his hair a couple more times before kissing his forehead and saying, “Goodnight son. No nightmares will plague you tonight.” 

I sat at my desk that night to keep an eye on my son. My eyes never left his sleeping form.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully it wasn't too bad. Give me a comment, suggestion about this story, or recommendations for future ones (I'll see what I can do about recommendations, no promises). Thanks for reading!


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